TORONTO — On a night that started with a special ceremony to salute the Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts, this seemed like a fitting storyline.

The crew from Calgary — in this case, the National Hockey League’s Flames — were the better of two teams for most of the night.

They deserved to win.

They didn’t.

Sound familiar?

There was no red-zone fumble or game-clinching interception (and there was the small consolation of a so-called loser point), but you can’t blame the Flames for feeling they should have been celebrating a victory — not digesting a defeat — after Wednesday’s 2-1 shootout setback to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre.

“We played a good game,” stressed Flames captain Mark Giordano, the lone marksman for the out-of-towners. “We did exactly what we wanted to do — played with energy, put a lot of pucks to the net. We’re happy with that. If we play like that, we’re going to get two points more nights than not.”

Calgary Flames left wing Johnny Gaudreau and Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Ron Hainsey race for the puck during the third period.Nathan Denette /
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Unlike the Calgary Stampeders’ gut-wrenching loss to the Argos in the Canadian Football League’s championship tilt, this could be a case of moral victory for the Flames.

After back-to-back losses on home ice, this was the sort of showing they needed.

They fired a season-high 48 shots on net, with every guy registering at least one.

“We could have easily won that game,” said Flames superstar winger Johnny Gaudreau, who had an opportunity to bury Wednesday’s winner in the third round of the shootout but lost control of the puck as he attempted a deke. “We had a ton of chances. We had some good looks in the third. Even in overtime, I think we kind of controlled the play for most of overtime.

“I think there were a lot of positives, other than the loss. It was a good bounce-back game … We wanted to make sure we came out flying (Wednesday), and I think we had a good first and stuck with it throughout the whole game. We have to keep building off this.”

The Flames (14-12-2) don’t have much time to ponder what could have been.

Flames captain, Giordano, cashed in on an early power-play, taking advantage of Troy Brouwer’s door-step screen with a wrist-shot from the point.

The Toronto team’s tying tally came with the Flames in scramble mode after a strange bounce off the glass behind the net on a dump-in. Giordano tried to clear with a pass around the boards, but with no winger at the usual hangout at the hash-marks, the puck was instead intercepted by Maple Leafs rearguard Morgan Rielly, who wired a wrister through traffic and past Mike Smith with 73 ticks to go in the middle stanza.

The Flames figured they had squeezed another behind Andersen in the third, but Sean Monahan’s would-be go-ahead goal was waved off because the net had been dislodged.

At the other end, Maple Leafs youngster William Nylander dented the iron. The 21-year-old Nylander was later the shootout hero thanks to a dazzling deke.

“Lately, if you look at our games, we haven’t been getting any bounces,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan. “Even the goal here late in the second period, just a dump-in where we’re in good spots, comes off an extension, comes to the front of the net …. We’re all scrambling in spots to get it, and they throw one from the wall to get it in.

“You just have to take those. But if you keep working and do the right things that we’re doing (Wednesday), you keep moving that forward, you end up getting those bounces more often than not.”

ICE CHIPS

Flames RW Jaromir Jagr was a no-go Wednesday due to a nagging lower-body injury … Replays show Flames LW Matthew Tkachuk spearing Maple Leafs LW Matt Martin from the bench during a first-period scrum. “That’s junior hockey stuff. He’ll learn over time,” said Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock. “But man, you gotta give Tkachuk credit. He played a good game. He played hard. No reason for that stuff.”

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